MAY 2023 – A red Piaggio Ape 50 has been parked in San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
I’m always looking for images that are typical for a place or region, ideally without entering into Kitsch which is clearly a risk.
In San Gimignano I found this red Piaggio Ape 50 that had been parked in front of houses that have been built in the traditional Tuscan style with brownish-red bricks and (formerly) red roofs.
While some may yell “Kitsch!” right away, I’d ask you to re-consider. That’s because the Ape is still a commonly used car for transportation in Italy. That’s because often the streets in the historic towns are simply to small for lorries (or even delivery cars like a Sprinter). The Ape is the Sprinter designed for Italian use cases. Like many Fiat cars (500, Panda, Uno, Punto) are the passenger cars for Italian use cases.
The small cabin of the Ape offers plenty of space for a driver, but occasionally you will also see two people squeezed into the cabin.
And the houses? Oh, they’re typical for the area, too. There’s absolutely nothing kitschy about this.
That’s why I love this image. 🙂
The high resolution image
| Capture Date & Time | 29-MAY-2023, 12:52 |
| Location | San Gimignano, Italy |
| Camera | Canon EOS M6 Mark II |
| Lens | Canon EF-M18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM |
| ISO | 400 |
| Exposure | 1/200 sec. at f/16 |
| Digital Image Source Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 4640 x 6960 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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